ALL IRELAND POETRY DAY 2009

I'm reading tomorrow in Athlone Library for All Ireland Poetry Day.

Venue: Aidan Heavey Public Library, Athlone Town Centre, Co Westmeath

Time: 7pm, 1st October

There are hundreds events on all around the country so do try to get to something.

I'll read from Molly's Daughter, Tattoo:Tatú and my forthcoming pamphlet Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car.

NUDE TOURING IN DUNDALK

Today sees the halfway mark on my Nude Not Naked Tour - my virtual tour - and it takes me to downtown Dundalk, County Louth, to the blog-home of writer/teacher/mother-of-seven/general Wonder Woman Barbara Smith.

Barbara is a fine writer and she asks incisive, interesting questions about the short stories in the book. Clicky HERE to read our chat.

'Nude' radio interview

Here is the link to my radio interview about Nude with Seán Rocks on his arts show on RTÉ Radio 1. This is from the 16th September. Oh boy, it sure is weird to hear yourself on the radio. One good thing - I don't think I sound as stressed/wired as I felt. Phew.

PATRICK KAVANAGH AWARD DEADLINE EXTENDED

The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2009
Closing date for entries extended to Wednesday, 7th October 2009

The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award for a first unpublished collection of poems in English is open to poets, born in the island of Ireland, or of Irish nationality, or long term resident in Ireland. The award is now in its 38th year. Previous winners include Eileán Ni Chuilleanáin, Paul Durcan, Thomas McCarthy, Peter Sirr, Sinead Morrissey, Conor O’Callaghan, Celia de Freine and Joseph Woods.

The winner of this year’s award will receive €1,000.
Certificates will be awarded for 2nd and 3rd place.

Closing date for entries has been extended to Wednesday 7th October 2009. The Award will be presented on the evening of the 27th November at the opening of the Annual Patrick Kavanagh Weekend in Inniskeen.

Website here for more.

LONGFORD WRITERS - DINGLE BURSARIES

First it was Galway, now Longford writers are the ones to get lucky. Dingle are offering more bursaries!! All details below:

Calling all Longford writers
Dingle Writing Courses Bursary available
Deadline October 2nd

Dingle Writing Courses, in association with Longford County Arts Office, is offering a Longford writer a bursary to attend one of this year’s Autumn residential weekend courses.
The bursary covers the cost of accommodation, food and workshops and is available for a place on either of the following courses:

Starting to Write with Moya Cannon, 9—11 October
Poetry with Leontia Flynn, 16—18 October

Starting to Write with Moya Cannon, 9—11 October

Moya Cannon is from Donegal and now lives in Galway. She has published three collections of poems, Oar (Salmon, 1990), The Parchment Boat (Gallery Press, 1997) and Carrying the Songs, (Carcanet, 2007). She has been writer in residence in County Kerry, Derry city and Waterford city and on Inis Oírr. She is a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Moya has received both the Brendan Behan Award and the Lawrence O Shaughnessy Award and is a member of Aosdána.
If you are a beginner or have only recently started writing this course will give you the confidence to get on with your own work. It will refer to contemporary poets and writers from different traditions to see how the principles of their craft can be applied to writing generated over the weekend.

Poetry with Leontia Flynn, 16—18 October
Leontia Flynn is a research fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry in Queen’s University Belfast. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2001 and her first collection, These Days (Cape, 2004) won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Prize. Her second collection Drives (Cape, 2008) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and in 2008 she received the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

Sometimes the best poems are not the ones you want to write, but the ones you have to write. Examining a number of traditional poetic forms, using examples from a wide range of poets, the course will look at how form can be a source of inspiration rather than a constraint in your writing.

Contact Fergus Kennedy, fkennedy@longfordcoco.ie , phone 043 3334918
The closing date for applications is October 2nd.

NUDE NOT NAKED IN ENGLAND TODAY!

This week on my Cyclone virtual tour I'm at writer/bookseller/blogger/reviewer Sara Crowley's blog A Salted and I've given her an exclusive on some recent news. Sara's questions are fabulous - my kind of questions - and I thoroughly enjoyed my virtual stop off in lovely England.

Click HERE to read our chat about naming characters, novels, opening lines and a Smash Hits style round-up of a few of my favourite things.

FRANK O'CONNOR FEST ROUND-UP

ME READING AT THE LAUNCH OF NUDE - CITY LIBRARY, CORK


FOC POSTER ON SOUTH MALL - LOOK AT JULIA VAN MIDDLESWORTH!!

Due to my general insane busy-ness, it's going to be impossible for me to give a proper report about the Frank O'Connor Festival. Let it suffice to say that it was fantastic as usual and I had a ball at readings, at my launch, in the pub, at Café Paradiso, in the English Market - oh, everywhere! Here's a few pics anyway.


PAT COTTER LAUNCHING NUDE - JUNO OUT FRONT

Thanks to Pat Cotter for hosting the launch; to my lovely Finbar for the nude etching, and to all the writers I spent time with and chatted to over the course of the few days. It was a pleasure to meet you all. (I'll resist the urge to namedrop shamelessly...)


PETINA GAPPAH AND JUNO

I'm off to Naas tomorrow to launch an exhibition of nude paintings by artist Stephen O'Raw.
Naas Library at 7pm - all welcome!

FRANK O'CONNOR WINNER 2009 ANNOUNCED

From my hotline to Cork - which I left yesterday morning after a wonderful time launching my book Nude - I have just learnt that author Simon Van Booy has won the 2009 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award with his book Love Begins in Winter.

I have reviewed his book (forthcoming in The Short Review) and I can vouch for its wonderfulness.

Huge congrats to Simon, who lives in New York, and is a genuinely sweet, nice, mildly eccentric guy, as well as a skilled and fabulous writer. He told me he plays fiddle for his 5 year old daughter, who has recently developed a passion for Irish dancing, and it seemed such a cute but wholly characteristic thing for him to do.

I am sad of course for the other excellent shortlisted writers who I spent time with over the few days: Petina, Philip, Shi-li, Charlotte and Wells. It was an incredibly strong shortlist and I would not have liked to try to pick a winner from those six.

VIRTUAL TOUR FOR NUDE - DUBLIN TODAY!

This week I'm kindly hosted by writer Colm Keegan at his Uiscebots Blog in downtown Clondalkin, County Dublin - I grew up a few miles from here, so it's lovely to be home. I really enjoyed Colm's interview questions about relationships, stories and inspirational material.

Head on over there to see what we talked about.

NUDE LAUNCH, RADIO INTERVIEW & CLIFDEN READING

I've a busy week ahead.

I'm off to Cork on Wednesday for the best little short story festival in the world: the Frank O'Connor. My book is being launched there on Friday 18th September at 4pm, by festival director Patrick Cotter, in the City Library. ALL WELCOME!

Tomorrow I'm at writer Colm Keegan's Uiscebots blog for Stop 3 on my Nude Not Naked Tour.

I'm being interviewed on Arena, the new arts show on RTÉ radio 1, on Weds 16th September, sometime between 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

And finally, I'm reading at Clifden Arts Week with Joan McBreen and Kerry Hardie on Sat 19th September at 6pm, in the Station House's theatre, in Clifden.

BANVILLE ON WRITING

Two interesting quotes on writing from an interview with John Banville in last Sunday's Indo.

"...when the observation's being done, it's not me," insists Banville. "I sort of slump like a marionette and he [the person who writes the books] does the observing and then I come back to life."

Weirdly, I know what he means. I often wonder where the hell the things I write about come from, much like dreams. There is some sort of alter ego who is the writer. The other me is the Mom, the shopper in Tesco, the partner, the one who watches East Enders etc. etc.

Banville on characters and the writer's self:

"Characters are never real people. What you do is, you take tiny details - somebody's eyes on a bus, the back of a child's head - they all go into an amalgam. Most of the sources you forget, and this new thing, the character, is made. Just as you do in dreams. But they're all me. I'm the only material I have. Just as in dreams every person is you."

Yes, John, exactly!

The rest of the piece is here - it's not a great interview: the interviewer seems to be afraid of him and Banville is quite reticent and fatigued with the whole thing, it seems. Worth a quick read though, if you have a spare five minutes.

VIRTUALLY IN BRISTOL

Today, I'm in Bristol, England where Tania is attempting to acclimatise to the wet after years living in Jerusalem. Yes, my friend, fellow Salt author, blogger and editor of the super Short Review Tania Hershman, invited me round for a chat about Nude today. See her blog HERE for Stop 2 on my virtual tour.

ELECTRIC PICNIC 2009 - A BIT MORE...

JUNO CHILLING IN THE WORD TENT

Well, it was my first muddy Electric Picnic - the other times I went there was no mud, so that was new...and difficult to drag a baby's buggy through. I have muscles on my muscles. Not sure I'd go with a young baby again - nowhere to change nappies in comfort, general dirt and piddly smells, cold breezes and open-air feeding, gazillions of potentially dangerous drunk people falling about. Somehow Flat Lake wasn't as stressful. Anyway, I did enjoy it but Baby can stay home next time, I think.

My reading went very well - my first reading from Nude. I read 'Woman in the Waves' - something amusing and punchy for the EP age profile (!). It went down well. I also read a few poems. I enjoyed the reading (a more frequent occurence since leaving pregnancy behind) and the audience looked and acted alive despite their collective hangover.


ANDRÉ KAPOR

A barefoot and sunlassed André Kapor from Sarajevo was one of my fellow readers and he delivered a very slick set that the audience loved. Very spoken wordy and seamless between-poem chat and start-of-poem delivery.


DELTA O'HARA

Delta O'Hara from Mexico also read/performed. I liked her funny poems about being a sex line phone operator in Dublin, complete with impressions of her scanger boss and his inane mobile phone conversations. Good fun.

We wandered about for a bit, exploring the MindField and beyond: Oxfam had their charity shop again, and there was stall after stall of yummy veggie food and handcrafted jewellery and clothes. There was a new Green Craft area where you could weave flower garlands, make a silver ring or carve a wooden spoon, among lots more.


BILLY RAMSELL

Back at the WORD, Cork poet Billy Ramsell delivered his usual wry and excellent set. Some new poems too, one of which was like a modern Yeats epic. Billy is always worth a listen - go see him if he's playing a village near you. I think he's pretty unique - a highly literary poet who commits his poems to memory and delivers them with style.


MAIGHRÉAD MEDHBH

Maighréad Medhbh and Miceál Kearney read in the same set as Billy. Maighréad the original Irish performance poet was consummately professional as always. Miceál is new to me and I enjoyed his concise pseudo-crabby farmer poems.


MICEÁL KEARNEY

Apart from that we wandered, chatted to friends, writers and strangers; missed things we wanted to see, saw things we didn't expect to see; heard the sublime Lisa Hannigan sing and carried Baby and dragged the pram through the muck. Fun!

ELECTRIC PICNIC 2009 - SOME PICS

WELCOME TO STRADBALLY



LOVELY BUNS/CUPCAKES @ THE FARMERS' MARKET



THE WORD TENT



MY FIRST READING FROM 'NUDE' @ THE WORD, EP 2009

More pics tomorrow and maybe even a little report if I'm not too wrecked. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

SEÁN Ó FAOLÁIN 2009 SHORTLIST

The 2009 shortlist and commendations for the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story comp have been announced. Here are Philip ó Ceallaigh's choices as judge:

(alphabetical order)

"Snow" by Elaine Barnard, California, USA

"Cold Cut" by Alexa Beattie, CT, USA

"Harm" by Michael Copperman, Oregon, USA

"Southern Hospitality" Alyn Fenn, Co.Cork, Ireland

"My Friend Joe" by David Mohan, Co. Dublin, Ireland

"The Mason's Tale" by Alec Solomita, MA, USA

"Holding On" Sheena Wilkinson, Co. Down, N. Ireland



Commendations

(In order of entry)



“The Shaman Can’t Call the Spirit Home” Benjamin Arda Doty, Mn, USA

“Scattered Teeth” Tabitha Roemish, Seattle, USA

“The Statistician” Richard Scarsbrook,Toronto, Canada

“The Fallen Cone” Sasha Margolis, Ohio, USA

“Nel Mezzo del Camin” James Moynihan, Cork, Ireland

“The Sky at Night” Robert Keaton Mac Donald, California, USA

“Giving Up” Gerry McCullough, Northern Ireland

“The Girl in the Window” Brian Kirk, Dublin, Ireland

“Island Shaman” René J. Navarro, Pennsylvania, USA

“The Girl at the Fair” Howard Petote, North Carolina, USA

“ Italian Lesson” Grace French, Dublin, Ireland

“The Grind” Dónal Moloney, Waterford, Ireland

“Waiting for the Bullet” Madeleine D’Arcy, Cork, Ireland

“The Boys” Emily Firetog, Dublin, Ireland

“Dancers” Andrew Fox, Dublin, Ireland

“Losing Amanda” Andrew Rogers, North Carolina, USA

“Never, Ever bring this Up Again” Luke Woods, New York, USA

“A Smudge of Color” Chris Nicholson, New York, USA

“The Cost of Fuel” Kathryn Hively, New Jersey, USA

"Dilation" Beverly Parayno, California, USA

SEPTEMBER'S SHORT REVIEW - ONLINE NOW

The Short Review for September is online now - enjoy reviews and interviews from John Saul and Dede Crane among others.

A little taster from John Saul:
TSR: What does the word "story" mean to you?

JS: I'm wary of the word "story" when focused on in a question; I prefer "fiction". "Story" too easily implies a certain conservative idea of how things should be (beginning, middle, end; characters; plots) and this is anathema to me. I want to move as freely as possible when I write, at least in the initial stages.

ELECTRIC PICNIC READING - SATURDAY 5th

FERRIS WHEEL AND SCULPTURE AT ELECTRIC PICNIC 2008



CHILLING OUT IN THE VILLAGE AT ELECTRIC PICNIC 2008

I'm reading at my favourite festival, Electric Picnic, on Saturday, thanks to Marty Mulligan who hosts The Word stage in The MindField, the spoken word and cinema area.

The wordy and lit-bit of the festival goes from strength to strength each year and I am tickled pink to be reading at it. (Cue my pink wellies being dragged from under the Hoover under the stairs...) There are 5 of us reading at my allotted time and I do believe I was in school in Dublin - Scoil Chaitríona - with one of them, Suzanne Doyle.

The stage is described like this on the EP website:
"The Word showcases a fine blend of poetry, spoken word, slam, prose, rap, readings, literature, comedy and music brought to you by an eclectic mix of national and international writers, poets and performers, all backed by The Aftermath, an act the Irish Independent rated as "the saviours of Irish rock" and they'll be mixing it up with some very special guest artists throughout the weekend."

WHERE: THE WORD STAGE

WHEN: 12.45pm - 1.45pm, Sat 5th Sep 2009

READERS: Andre Kapor, Suzanne Doyle, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Delta O'Hara and Gary Galway

WORKSHOP BURSARIES FOR GALWAY WRITERS

Here's something lovely for Galway writers - bursaries to the fabulous Dingle Writing Courses this autumn. Don't say the County Arts Office doesn't look after you!

There are two Dingle Writing Courses Bursaries available. All info below:

Deadline: September 25th

Dingle Writing Courses, in association with Galway County Arts Office, is offering two Galway writers a bursary each to attend one of this year’s Autumn residential weekend courses.

The bursaries cover the cost of accommodation, food and workshops. Writers should contact Maria Cunningham in Galway Arts Office for an application form.

The two bursaries available are on the following courses:

Starting to Write with Moya Cannon, 9—11 October

Poetry with Leontia Flynn, 16—18 October

Starting to Write with Moya Cannon, 9—11 October

Moya Cannon is from Donegal and now lives in Galway. She has published three collections of poems, Oar (Salmon, 1990), The Parchment Boat (Gallery Press, 1997) and Carrying the Songs, (Carcanet, 2007). She has been writer in residence in County Kerry, Derry city and Waterford city and on Inis Oírr. She is a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Moya has received both the Brendan Behan Award and the Lawrence O Shaughnessy Award and is a member of Aosdána.
If you are a beginner or have only recently started writing this course will give you the confidence to get on with your own work. It will refer to contemporary poets and writers from different traditions to see how the principles of their craft can be applied to writing generated over the weekend.

Poetry with Leontia Flynn, 16—18 October

Leontia Flynn is a research fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry in Queen’s University Belfast. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2001 and her first collection, These Days (Cape, 2004) won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Prize. Her second collection Drives (Cape, 2008) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and in 2008 she received the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
Sometimes the best poems are not the ones you want to write, but the ones you have to write. Examining a number of traditional poetic forms, using examples from a wide range of poets, the course will look at how form can be a source of inspiration rather than a constraint in your writing.

Contact Maria Cunningham mcunningham@galwaycoco.ie, phone 091 476504.

For further information on courses in Dingle visit www.dinglewritingcourses.ie

PUBLICATION DAY AND I'M 'IN' NEW ZEALAND!

This is publication day for Nude my new short fiction collection from Salt Publishing!!

So while the middle child is back at school, the oldest child is snoozing, and with baby strapped on my back, I'm off to New Zealand for the day to visit the studio of wonder-blogger/writer/artist Rachel Fenton.

And she's painting my nude portrait while asking me questions about the book and writing in general. This is the first stop on my virtual book tour: The Nude not Naked Tour.

Go on over there and see what we talked about HERE.